Monday, July 8, 2013

News from Amanda Butler: on the Appalachian Trail by Amanda Butler

Amanda “Button” Butler is back on the Appalachian Trail after an infection sent her home to Windham for four weeks. The following are some excerpts from her blog and from an interview about her adventures. “I am doing well. I hit the halfway mark yesterday and am now in Pennsylvania. I didn't meet back up with my friends so I had to make new friends which took a while, but I think I have found some nice people to hike with,” she said on Thursday. “Getting back on the trail was exciting, but hard. I wanted to be able to do the same amount of miles I had done before taking four weeks off, but it wasn’t as easy as it had been. It took me a while to get back into the swing of things and I was meeting completely new people. I also had to adjust to the weather, it had gotten a lot hotter and afternoon thunderstorms became common, but I was still happy to be back!“At first it seemed like there were a lot more people around before I got off the trail, but I think I was just in between people. I did spend my first night completely alone while I tented at a flat spot I found close to a cliff. It was kind of scary and I could hear noises from the valley, but it all worked out, and I had a nice view for dinner.“I spent the night in Waynesboro, VA before heading into Shenandoah National Park. The park is known for its wildlife and the rumors held true. I saw eight bears in the park, six all in one day. I also saw my first rattlesnake which was cool, but terrifying. It was in the middle of the trail so I noticed it and let it slither away and as I walked past it in the woods it rattled at me which was way louder than I expected it to be. The craziest thing I saw in the park was a baby deer being chased by a coyote, being chased by the mother deer, all running down the trail towards me. The baby deer veered off the trail when it saw me and the coyote followed it, but I had to move out of the way of the doe. I also saw turtles, woodpeckers, and bunnies.”

Caption: “This zipline went to a guy’s house where he lets you tent on his backyard and leaves his back porch open with a fridge filled with soda. There was also a nice fire pit where we enjoyed the night,” Amanda Butler said before she was forced off the trail due to an infection.